A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Thursday, October 19, 2051, with an umbral magnitude of 1.4130. It will be a central lunar eclipse, in which part of the Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring only about 30 minutes after perigee (on October 19, 2051, at 18:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.
This lunar eclipse is the last of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on May 6, 2050; October 30, 2050; and April 26, 2051.
This will be the first central eclipse of Saros series 137. Less than a day from perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger, and be considered a supermoon.
Visibility
The eclipse will be completely visible over east Africa and much of Europe and Asia, seen rising over eastern South America and west Africa and setting over Australia and the western Pacific Ocean.
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 2051
- A partial solar eclipse on April 11.
- A total lunar eclipse on April 26.
- A partial solar eclipse on October 4.
- A total lunar eclipse on October 19.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 1, 2048
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2055
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2044
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 30, 2058
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2042
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 24, 2060
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 2040
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 18, 2062
Lunar Saros 137
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 8, 2033
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 30, 2069
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 8, 2022
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 29, 2080
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 19, 1964
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 20, 2138
Lunar eclipses of 2049–2052
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The penumbral lunar eclipse on June 15, 2049 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 137
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 78 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on December 17, 1564. It contains partial eclipses from June 10, 1835 through August 26, 1961; total eclipses from September 6, 1979 through June 28, 2466; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 9, 2484 through September 12, 2592. The series ends at member 78 as a penumbral eclipse on April 20, 2953.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 44 at 99 minutes, 53 seconds on April 13, 2340. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 144.
See also
- List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links
- 2051 Oct 19 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
